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Veolia Water North America's Safety Performance: Better Than Both Municipal and Private Sector

CHICAGO, Apr. 26, 2012 - Veolia Water North America (Veolia Water), the nation's leading provider of municipal and industrial water and wastewater partnerships, continued to significantly outperform public municipal systems as well as private-industry water, wastewater and other comparable utility systems as compared to the most recent data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The company's Lost-Time Incidence Rate (LTIR) - injuries or illnesses resulting in time away from work - was an impressive 0.7 versus a BLS average of 2.1 for municipal water and wastewater operations and 1.6 for all private sector operations. Statistically, Veolia Water's LTIR results were 67 percent better than the national average for municipal operations and 56 percent better than the national average for private operations.

Veolia Water's total Recordable Incidence Rate (RIR) was 3.0 versus a BLS average of 6.2 for municipal water and wastewater operations, and an average of 4.5 for all private operators. RIR includes medical treatment, restrictions and transfers, and lost-time injuries or illnesses. Veolia Water's RIR performance was approximately 52 percent better than the national average for municipal operations and 33 percent better than the national average for private operations.

"When you work for Veolia, you work for a company that puts employee and public safety first," said Laurent Auguste, president and CEO of Veolia Water Americas. "Our track record reflects this commitment and reflects the numerous processes we put in place to ensure best practices in the workplace."

The Veolia Water culture holds everyone accountable for safety, ranging from the executive level to the project manager and shift employee. In North America, Veolia Water employees work in approximately 550 communities and at more than 100 industrial sites, and they are all held to uniform safety standards, including a program of continuous improvement designed to support working safety.

"Employees want to know that the organization they work for treats their safety with the highest regard," said Dan Ryan, executive vice president, management systems and health & safety, who manages the program. "We think and speak about safety every single day and as a result, it's become a natural part of our work process. We even begin our senior management meetings with a safety moment. We don't want to just beat the status quo; we're striving toward a perfectly safe workplace and every day that we meet that goal, we see that it is indeed a possibility."

Based in Chicago, Veolia Water North America is the leading provider of comprehensive water and wastewater partnership services to municipal and industrial customers, providing services to people in approximately 550 North American communities. The company is part of the Veolia Environnement companies in North America, with 30,000 North American employees providing sustainable environmental solutions in water management, waste services, and energy management.

Veolia Water, the water division of Veolia Environnement, is the world leader in water and wastewater services and technological solutions. Its parent company, Veolia Environnement (NYSE: VE and Paris Euronext: VIE), is the worldwide reference in environmental services. With more than 315,000 employees, Veolia Environnement recorded annual revenues of $38 billion in 2011. Visit the company's Web sites at www.veolianorthamerica.com and www.veoliawaterna.com, or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/veoliawaterna.